Hi all- I was out shooting my new AR-15 for only the second time the other day. After putting in the first mag, I pulled the charging handle back, but the first round failed to chamber. Tried pulling the charging handle again, and another fail to chamber. When I say “failed to chamber” I mean it was like the mechanism was totally failing to catch the round at the top of the magazine; the first round was just hanging out there at the top of the mag like nothing was going on. I popped the mag out & re-inserted, and then everything worked fine.
After firing a couple of mags I popped another mag in and this time the first round chambered only half-way, and got stuck. I popped the mag out and cycled the action thus ejecting the partially-chambered round, then re-inserted the mag and everything was good.
This is the only prob I’ve had with the gun, other than this it has functioned beautifully. No other fail-to-chambers besides these two cases when it happened immediately after inserting a new mag. I’m thinking this was caused by operator error; i.e. I failed to fully insert the mag, and the action couldn’t properly catch & chamber the round. For you experienced guys out there, does this sound like a plausible explanation? Is it common to see this sort of problem if a mag is not fully seated?
The gun is a Colt 6920, PMag 30-round M-series, Federal XM193 LC 08 rounds. Here at home I just tried chambering rounds from all of my mags, being careful to fully seat the mags upon insertion, and there were no issues chambering the first round. The prob is I won’t be able to shoot again for a week or two so I can conclusively verify that this was indeed operator error, and it’s bugging me…!
Don’t ride the slide or charging handle for this matter of fact pull back and let go (I am not certain of your experience so sorry if that sounded rude).
Fully seat mags and pull down to verify fully seated.
Number mags and see if it is a specific magazine that is causing the issue.
I didn’t ride the charging handle, I let the bolt snap forward. This happened with two different mags. This was my first experience with PMags and I’m thinking I didn’t seat them all the way in… the 20-rnd aluminum mags that came with the gun seem to slide into the magwell easier and I had to problems with those.
I’m by no means an expert, but from personal experiences (recently) I would agree with Haunas in that it the magazine was not fully inserted into the magazine well. I had similar issues last month during a competition and it was all caused because I didn’t fully insert the mag.
I would highly recommend numbering your magazines as well for the reasons that Haunas stated.
Mag issue. Or mag seating issue. If it’s not fully seated what you described happens. Over the years I’ve also frequently seen shooters get 1 or 2 rounds and then the mag drops out, not that I’ve had it happen myself a few times! I suppose it theorectically could be the follower tilting and pushing the rounds up but it does’nt sound like it to me. Not with magpul followers, but never say never.
Yes the mags were fully loaded, 30 rnds. Do you guys load a full 30 in your 30-rnds mags?
When I start shooting I like to put the magazine in on a closed bolt, then pull the charging handle to chamber the first round, rather than than the alternative of manually pulling the bolt back and then loading the mag, followed by hitting the bolt release.
Heavy Metal do you start off with a closed bolt or do you usually open it first? What about everyone else, is it more common to open the bolt first or start off with it closed?
I generally load all of my 30 rounders with 28 rds. I even do it with PMAG’s as a habit. But, even a PMAG loaded with 30rds will insert into the lower and lock in place with the bolt forward.
My guess is that you are not slamming them home hard enough or that possibly the mag catch needs adjustment.
Knock on wood, no, I’ve never had a slam fire. Nonetheless, it happens.
Military rifles don’t have firing pin springs, so when you chamber a round, the firing pin hits the primer (hence the light primer strike marks on chambered but still unfired cartridges).